


Forget-Me-Not

by SolarQueen



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fae, Ben & Rey are Teenagers, Ben Solo Needs A Hug, F/M, Fae Stolen Rey & Ben, Found Family, M/M, Poe & Finn are Like Their Brothers, Rey Needs A Hug, Rose is best sister, Self-Discovery, canonverse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-07
Updated: 2020-01-15
Packaged: 2021-02-27 14:55:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,074
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22129084
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SolarQueen/pseuds/SolarQueen
Summary: Children of the Fae come and go but Rey and Ben stay, playing and learning the ways of the Force in their ever present time as teenagers who have nothing to do but learn and get to know each other.Things change at some point when something finds it’s way into the Fae Realm: an old and worn blaster. With it comes a name and a sudden spark of adventure for the two lost teenagers to discover what the world once was to them and to decide what the world should be for them now.
Relationships: Ben Solo & Rose Tico, Finn & Ben Solo, Finn & Rey (Star Wars), Finn & Rose Tico, Poe Dameron & Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Poe Dameron & Rey, Poe Dameron & Rose Tico, Poe Dameron/Finn, Rey & Rose Tico, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 11
Kudos: 5





	1. Children of the Fae

Bare feet dance along the ripples of the darkness of the Fae Realm, the ground not visible to the naked eye moves like water between the girl’s toes and the white of her dress - long-sleeved, cold-shouldered, and stitched together with silk of a pixie’s wing - contrasts her dark surroundings as it flares out around white leggings with every twirl she makes.

The dancing girl is young, mid teens, her hair is brown and falls down her back half up in a braided crown. Her eyes are closed but they’re brown too, a bright kind, with sparkles of innocence, youth, and love for the world she has around her.

Prancing between her legs at each twist and leap is a Loth-cat, white in colour and one of the few things with a name in this realm: Florence. They’re a shapeshifter, on of the Grey Clan Fae that’s been the girl’s companion for as long as she can remember. Shapeshifters are one of the few Fae with a weak propensity for creating glamours, so they need a form to mould those glamours after. For Florence, their favoured form is the Loth-cat, they’re small, agile, have a good set of teeth, and they can still shift if they need something with more power. Not that they ever would in their home realm.

If the girl follows the white lines on the floor she’ll come to her only other Fae child companion: a boy only slightly older than her, maybe a year, he has fluffy, black hair and soft eyes, his nose and ears are big but if she’s being honest she finds those features rather endearing. He lies on his stomach on another ripple of a platform, turning the page on another book he magically acquired and clad in a loose button-up shirt and dark trousers; he’s not wearing shoes either.

Nestled in his hair is his Fae companion: a pixie by the name of Axel. Golden skin and a mess of white fuzz atop their head with glass wings and a voice warning only mischief. There only a few inches tall, able to hide their whole body behind one of the boy’s ears

What he’s reading the girl doesn’t know, she’s never been very good with words, reading or speaking them. She’s physical, athletic, and he is too but he’s got more intelligence than she does and she’ll admit that in a heartbeat. They’re both capable, not that they need to be in a realm like theirs, but the Grey Clan Fae haven’t taught them the ways of the Force for no reason, didn’t bring material a crystals back from wherever it is they disappear to to build them lightsabers with beautiful glows.

They’re usually alone, if other Children of the Fae have been in their area they don’t remember, but memories and time are weird in this realm anyway - not that either the boy or the girl know this. Their Fae companions never mention anyone else, just other Fae and the Grey Clan King they say brought the two to this land.

As Children of the Fae this is their home, their lives.

They don’t know any better.


	2. Path to Discovery

Things are usually quiet in the Fae Realm, sound seldom shattering the glass of silence. The kids talk sometimes, when it’s truly necessary, but for the most part things are shared through a channel in the Force, natural enough, though they have a bond the Grey Clan King says is special to the two of them. Very few Fae children or Force sensitive folk in general have the kind of connection the two of them have, it’s how they find each other in the wide expanse of darkness they live in.

When something changes, they know, as the only inhabitants of the area when other Grey Clan Fae aren’t passing through, they can tell when something isn’t quite right, which is why they’re stood here now.

They’re closer to the main Clan territory than they usually are, secluded away on personal paths and platforms with their companions to train and do whatever it is they can conjure up in those young heads of theirs. But what’s brought them here is a disturbance, a ripple so big it almost tripped the girl in one of her spins and made the boy lose his page in his book; the ripple sent the outlines scattering, leaving them in a single void of black for longer than was comfortable before the shapes reappeared. They followed the lines of the paths here as they slotted back into place like a jigsaw.

What they end up finding isn’t quite what they’d expected, the central platform is mostly empty, unidentifiable as it usually is, but something sits in the centre of it, old and worn like one of the boy’s well-loved books. Florence circles it suspiciously, head bending every other cycle to breathe in its aura like it’ll change if they glare at it enough, Axel is slightly more reserved, wings buzzing behind them as they flit between each end, not quite daring to touch it or the ground around it.

The children share a look, the girl’s arms are wrapped around one of the boy’s and she’s concerned, the crease in her eyebrows and her eyes flashing over to the path to the rest of the territory tells the boy that all she wants to do is get another Fae to deal with it. They’re far enough out of their area as it is, it’ll do them no good crossing over without a proper escort should another Clan be crossing the central point at the same time.

But something about it all sets the boy’s nerves on fire. The foreign familiar feeling he gets from the... _thing_ on the ground makes his throat tighten and his palms sweat and he has no feasible explanation as to why; if the girl notices she doesn’t say anything, not even a little mental push through the Force.

He slips out of her grips carefully, holding his hand out when she almost makes a noise of protest; Florence bounds away from the item and into the girl’s now-free arms while Axel looks up to the boy and flutters to their hiding spot in his upturned collar. His head tilts as he looks down at it but he doesn’t dare get too much closer in case it turns out to be something _alive_ , he gives it a little nudge with his toes to check that fact and it doesn’t make any sort of movement.

He reaches down to grab it and only halts when the girl makes a strained sort of panicked noise: she’s holding Florence tightly and tearing through a layer of skin on her lips, he tries to smile - though it may come out as more of a grimace - and turns to actually pick the item up.

_He sees a room, **his** room, decked out in kind-of-illegally-acquired items gifted by his father, this father doesn’t have a face, at least, not in his recent memory, and this room is nothing short of foreignly-familiar like the item - the **blaster** \- he’d picked up had._

_His eyes scan the warm space, a bed too big for how small he suddenly remembers being when he last slept in it rests against one of the walls and maps of different solar systems line those same walls._

_He doesn’t know where he is but at the same time he does, he’s in a state of panic but feels safe in this place that he feels he shouldn’t know but so intimately does._

_There’s a shuffle outside of the room and things start getting brighter in the spot he assumes is a door. It opens but whoever opens it is obscured by the light, firm yet playful voice bouncing around the corners of the room with echoing familiarity until the room gets too bright for him to stay focused._

_“Ben, come on, kid, dinner time.”_

He inhales sharply, the blaster clattering back onto the platform far away from him as his body drops to meet it. His lungs are burning, refusing to work as they normally should do and forcing him to experience something he never quite has before; his mind is reeling, Ben, _Ben_ , that’s his name, _his name_ , how did he not know his own name? Why does he remember his name and nothing else? What is _happening_?

“Hey, hey I need you to breathe.” A voice he rarely hears breaks through his mental turmoil, it’s the girl, the girl he doesn’t know the name of, the girl who doesn’t know her own name. She’s in front of him, knees folded under herself and hands ghosting over his skin, afraid to make contact, “you hear me?”

He exhales, not quite steady and certainly not helpful when he sucks in a breath just as fast as he had before. He nods, movement erratic and uncontrolled to the point her hands come to hold his cheeks and forces his attention on her completely; he sees a quick _sorry_ pass over her lips but he’s either too locked onto her eyes or she doesn’t fully verbalise it because he doesn’t really hear it.

One of her hands moves down to clasp his, pulling it into her lap while the other moves to card through his dark locks. She doesn’t say too much more, just gives him a few quiet mental pushes to follow her slow, steady breathing pattern while her thumb runs along his knuckles and her fingers work the soft tangles out of his hair.

He closes his eyes at some point, the rise and fall of his chest slowing to a controllable speed; Florence brushes their tail against his side as their way of showing they’re there, and Axel whispers little comforts in his ear until he’s calm again. His eyes come to open again and they immediately lock of the soft expression of his friend.

“There you go.” He relishes in how gentle her voice is, something he’s missed with the constant mental conversation, “what happened?” She asks carefully.

He tucks his knees beneath his chin and she must take it as him needing another second because she gives his hand a quick squeeze and slips away from him to cross the platform and stop a step away from the blaster, hesitating only slightly before bending down to grab it.

His eyes follow her and he exhales one final time, slow and controlled, before he eventually answers, “I just- I saw something, a memory. I heard my name.”

She freezes, fingertips barely brushing the barrel of the blaster as she looks back over at him, Florence is sat with wide eyes locked on Axel who bites at their hand, wings twitching against his neck. She blinks and swallows, plucking the blaster off the ground with her forefinger and thumb and holding it out at arm’s length as if it will bite, she doesn’t seem to get any flashes like he does and starts to come back over.

“W-What was it?”

“Huh?”

She smiles and it feels like a sun he’s never seen is standing right in front of him, “your name, dummy, what was it?”

“Oh,” he coughs, hauling himself to his feet to meet her half way, “Ben.”

Her smile only seems to grow, “I like it.”

She offers him the blaster and he brushes his fingers against it’s handle before gripping it properly. It slips into his hand easily, like he’d held it before, the worn grooves aren’t quite perfect against his fingers, but they remind him of something, of the voice and the face obscured by light.

He feels a tug at his heart, and for a second he worries his lungs are about to stop working again before he realises it’s a feeling, something he’s never quite experienced before (and it seems he hasn’t experienced much, or forgotten everything he ever _has_ experienced). He can’t quite name the feeling, it’s like he’s missing something, wishing that thing or that _person_ was with him now but he has no idea what or _who_ he’s missing; it feels like most of his heart, his soul is just not there and he needs those pieces back. _Desperately_.

“Am I losing you again, Ben?” His name leaves her mouth easily, like she’s always known it, like she’s always known he was more than just the boy with the big ears and the big nose who reads too much and took far too long learning how to dance when she decided she wanted to teach him.

He pulls out a smile, small and unstable, but genuine, “no, no I’m okay now. Thank you.”

There’s a sigh, it echoes across the area and fills it up like water in a jug, there’s a mental tut and from the shadows of the territory bridge comes someone they haven’t seen in a while. The Grey Clan King comes into view, a grey, horned beast with deceptively hard eyes and sharp teeth, Ben’s never been quite sure what he is, but at the moment that’s not the most important thing happening to him right now.

**I knew there would be a day you’d leave us**

Their mental voice is deep, rough, but there’s a sense of loss to it, he realises now, in the face of what feels like their last time together, that the King has never said verbal words to them, only used the open channel of the Force to communicate; he wonders mildly if they have a voice at all. The King has been the most consistent part of their lives aside from Axel and Florence, so in a way they’re his and the girl’s guardian, a protector, a teacher. The Fae’s eyes lock onto the blaster still in Ben’s hand and he has the sudden urge to hide it away like a forbidden text.

**Fear not, young one, you’re not in any trouble. It’s your time, this is a sign from the Force that the world beyond this one needs you, both of you.**

He and the girl share a look and she shifts a little closer to him, fingers curling around the end of his shirt. All the King does in return is smile, clawed hands moving behind them as they conjure things in a trick the two teens never understood. They hand over a belt to each of them, hooked to them are metal cylinders with rubber grips, the girl’s in the centre of hers while Ben’s is at the end and the other end has short extra channels on the sides. Ben loops hisbelt through the loops in his trousers, pushing the blaster into a new holsterand covering both items with his shirt; the girl pulls hers tightly around her waist and ties the extra leather to keep it in place, cylinder hooked horizontally at her back.

**The King moves again, coming over to them and laying a white, hooded cloak over the girl’s shoulders, covering most of her belt like Ben’s shirt does for his. As the King do this, their voice fills the pair’s heads again.**

Rey, that is who you are. Beyond your name I can give neither of you anything else. Your pasts are yours to discover and your futures are yours to define.

Rey. A smile tugs at the corner of his mouth at how fitting it is she’s names like a sparkling sun beam. He looks over and she’s staring at him with a gobsmacked expression shifting into a teary grin.

“I have a _name_ ,” she squeals, surging forward to throw her arms around his neck in a tight hug, he wraps his arms around her waist and squeezes; they hugged plenty often, he always liked them, but this one feels different, special.

Axel giggling in their ears makes them pull away, glaring playfully at the fluttering pixie who does nothing to look apologetic; for a second Florence’s tail sways and then Rey’s almost falling backwards at the new weight in her cloak’s hood but the whole group of them are laughing as Ben snags her arms to keep her on her feet through pure excitement alone at this point.

They turn back towards the centre of the platform and the King is no longer there but a door across the darkness is open. It overlooks a blue sky and golden sand, the sun in the sky creates waves of noticeable heat warping some kind of slanted silver structure in the distance.

He and Rey look to each other before the cross to the door, Axel slips buck under Ben’s collar and Florence gets properly settled in Rey’s hood. She reaches out and intertwines her fingers with his, squeezing as she exhales like she’s trying to blow away all of her worries, Ben can’t help but copy.

They take one last look at the shadows behind them and the ripples beneath them before they take that step and cross into the world beyond the Fae Realm.


	3. The World Beyond Home

Rey still isn’t sure if she’s a fan of all the sand. The heat has been quite nice and it gives her the added perk of watching Ben (the whole having names thing is so _exciting_ ) push up his sleeves past his elbows - though it also means they have to stop holding hands because that is not something the heat wants them to be able to do.

Getting back on the sand thing, it’s hot due to the oppressive sun, but she doesn’t feel like she notices that against her feet. What she notices is how the grains sting her skin when even the slightest bit of wind pushes them up and in her direction. It all moves too, levels shifting if part of some dune ledge is unstable and threatening to send her and Ben tumbling down said dune or just sinking down and having to get pulled back out.

There’s a strange feeling about this place though, the second she stepped foot on this new world her brain had supplied its name - Jakku - but other than that she doesn’t seem to remember much about it. She has odd flashes every so often if she catches sight of something, a person pulling a net of junk to a speeder fills not only some rigid set of scavenger rules in her head but also sudden schematics of the speeder they’re driving, as if she’s messed around with the vehicle before.

She wonders if Ben felt anything similar to this when he touched the blaster now at his hip. His had been scary as is on her end, he just stopped completely, eyes not focusing on anything, his mind not reacting to anything she was sending and all she could feel was waves and waves of confusion, and then panic when he came to. Jakku seems to be too empty for all these sudden facts to overwhelm her, and she hopes she never has to experience what Ben did if only to spare him the fear he might feel if he saw her like that.

They’re walking in the direction of the slanted, warping structure, she has a feeling it’s not a building but a ship, and while the facts about the speeder came quickly, she can’t seem to drag up any memories right now aside from how to climb the insides of those things.

As the warping lines of heat wrap around them, a bead of sweat rolls down her temple and she looks out across the remnants at the bottom of the short, almost-hillside the sand makes up. It’s like a graveyard, shells of ships and shards of shrapnel half buried in the shifting sands with echoes of lost souls and dead screams play upon the wind like morbid music she shouldn’t be able to hear. She sees Ben shift slightly, and wonders if he can feel what she does or if the simple sight of the metal carcasses is just unnerving by themselves; Axel tucks themselves further under Ben’s collar, the glittering of their wings disappearing behind the soft fabric; she hears Florence hiss a little, she wonders if the Fae can see the spirits she and Ben can only feel.

“What do you wanna do?” Ben asks after their moment of staring. He turns to face her now, running a hand through his hair to stop it sticking to his forehead.

She looks across the wrecks, eyes locking on one of the bigger ships - a Star Destroyer - and feeling a curious wave of interest pass over her like a controlled spike of cold, “let’s go look at that one.”

He nods, “okay, let’s just be careful- Rey!”

She’s sliding down the decline of the hill before he can finish his sentence, giggles bubbling out of her throat at hearing the annoyed-yet-concerned call of her name. Her body moves on autopilot to get down and she doesn’t seem to realise it until she’s at the bottom with sand up to her ankles and looking back at the boy still at the top.

“Come one then!” She calls cheekily, pulling her feet up and reaching out with both hands as if to catch him.

He groans, shuffling with his sleeves again before going for it. He’s sloppier than she was, quite clearly, but his control isn’t abysmal - maybe somewhere in his memories is an interaction with a sand world. His landing isn’t the greatest, his feet get caught in the sand the same way hers did but he’s got more top weight than she does and goes tumbling forward into her, she lands on her back and finds herself laughing before either of them have recovered from the fall; it doesn’t even occur to her that it feels like she hasn’t laughed in a lifetime.

She opens her eyes as her laughter dies down, smiling softly up at the boy hovering over her. His cheeks are pink - probably caused by the sun - and there’s something in his eyes she can’t quite translate.

“What?” She can’t help giggling again, finding she likes making him smile.

Ben shakes his head a little, “nothing.” He pushes himself to stand, brushing sand off his knees and offering her his hand to pull her to her feet, “your laugh is just nice.”

She feels her cheeks grow somewhat warmer and makes the optimal decision to blame that on the sun like she had the colour on Ben, nonetheless she runs her hands through her hair to get the sand out and looks up at the iron cemetery looming over them in a harsh contrast to the light she felt when it was Ben above her.

They make their way across the remainder of the plain, dodging pieces of shrapnel for the sake of their Fae and coming towards the Star Destroyer and it’s place in the immovable chaos. Rey thinks she hears something, higher up than she thinks she should be able to, and looks at Ben who’s squinting at the darkness of the opening they’re standing near; he didn’t hear it.

“Can you hold Florence?” She asks without context, shifting to let the taller boy pull the Loth-Cat out of her hood and into his arms.

He starts a little when she grabs onto an outcropping on the ship, “woah-hey, what are you doing now?” She’s glad she occupied his arms with Florence or she’s sure he’d grab her and pull her down.

She looks back at him with a teasing glint in her eye, “I’m investigating.” And before he can get another protest in, she’s letting the memory autopilot take over to find the indents and outcropping for her hands and feet to use and scale the side of the ship.

She aims for the smoother climbing points, trying to avoid cutting her bare skin on the metal and potentially getting some kind of disease; that’s overall a little difficult though, the wind-carried sands having scuffed and chipped away at the old metal and falling panels. She can feel Ben’s anxiety even from how high she is, and that might just be the Force bond, but she also thinks he’s just built on concern and it’s so palpable that he manages to naturally project his aura.

She grunts, pulling herself up onto a ledge and wincing slightly as one of her sleeves rips against a sharp spike from the open wound in the side of the ship. She frowns at the tear, thankful it didn’t do the same to her skin before she hears the noise again: a little beep, like a trill from a small creature cornered in the dark. If her hair wasn’t clinging to the sweat on her face and neck it would’ve very likely swung around fast enough to whip herself with how fast she turns to the noise.

* * *

For a droid who can’t talk like the humans he hangs around with, BB-8 is exceptionally expressive, at least Poe says so, and Poe’s is the only opinion that really matters to him, but that’s not the point right now (he’d also really like to avoid thinking about his best friend because he could be _dead_ right about now). What matters is the random teenage girl who just appeared on the ledge outside of his hiding place, as if climbing up the side of a fallen Star Destroyer is the easiest thing in the world, and made him let out a panicked beep that caught her attention.

“Hello,” she greets brightly, suddenly disregarding the tear in her dress to shift and sit up where she is, “what are you doing here?”

He beeps at her warily, if she’s a scavenger child then she might understand him, but he isn’t sure how many units of his type are seen around these parts.

“I’m not going to hurt you, promise,” she says, inching a little closer with a hand outstretched, “I’m Rey, what’s your name.”

BB-8 knows honest when he hears it, he’s skirted around the Resistance base enough to tell the difference between lies and endearing truths, Poe is guilty of both though he very much leans towards endearing truths when he’s with the General or his Squadron (a General and Squadron that probably think he’s _dead_ ).

This girl is on the honest side, open smile and if she has weapons they’re hidden by a white hooded cloak. He finds himself curious, as curious as he can be, and wonders if maybe he can go with this girl to whatever outpost she reports to and find a way back to either a) the Resistance, or b) Poe, because BB-8 would like to think he’s important enough for Poe to come back for if he’s survived whatever happened with the First Order. So, after mulling over his options, he trills out his name.

“BB-8?” Her head tilts in a way only a child’s could and he’s vaguely reminded of Poe when the two were first paired together, “what are you doing here?”

He doesn’t totally want to answer that, in case there’s already a bounty out for him when the Order realise Poe doesn’t have what BB-8 has, so he simply chirps the simple excuse that he’s looking for his friend. He rolls a little, fully prepared to go over to her and see exactly what a barefooted, cleanly dressed teenager has doing business in a desert when the platform he’s on groans, there’s a flattering of metal and then the once stable surface tilts back and sends him rolling towards the edge of it.

Rey gasps, reaching out but just missing and yelling down, “Ben!”

And then BB-8 is falling, dropping down the pure gap in space next to the sloping incline he’d wheeled up to hide up there in the first place. He lets out a prolonged beep like a scream, trying to send out his metal wires in an attempt to catch something but failing rather miserably; he hadn’t realised how high up he rolled until he spends so much time falling and collides with a body so heavily they both go tumbling. BB-8 assumes the body is Ben, who lets out a wheezing groan and calls out to someone that he’s fine.

He rolls off the boy with a series of apologetic whistles, wheeling around to get a look as Rey slides down the metal incline to where they are. Ben looks a little older than Rey, certainly seems taller (though that’s hard to judge when he’s wheezing on the floor), and has dark hair and a big nose; there’s a blaster at his hip and something else BB-8 can’t get a good look at before Rey’s hauling him to his feet and picking a Loth-cat (though not quite a Loth-cat because it’s readings are... weird) up off the smallest patch of sand blown into the ship by the wind. Ben really is tall, but there’s something about his face that looks familiar in a way, BB-8 doesn’t believe he’s met this child before, but a parent? That’s possible, he has encountered a number of different people while doing Resistance business with Poe.

When everyone’s less frazzled, Ben crouches down to a level closer to BB-8’s, asking, “what were you doing up there?” He still sounds a little winded, and BB-8 identifies a forming bruise on his right forearm - both are his fault, and considering the kid didn’t let him crash and fall apart to scavenge his pieces... maybe BB-8 can ask them for help, maybe.

“Hiding?” Rey sounds quizzical, “hiding from what? What about your friend?”

He goes to answer but sand rushes past the opening they’re near and scrapes against the caging metal around them.

Rey sticks her hand out and hisses as the sand hits it, shaking it as she pulls it back in, “sandstorm, shouldn’t last more than a couple hours.”

Ben gives her a curious look and she shrugs in response, shifting the maybe-Loth-cat in her arms again before leading them around warped and battered metal to a small space with no openings or points where the storm can get to them. She sits down first, crossing her legs and placing her companion on the fabric of her lap away from the metal, Ben drops next to her, half stretched out with his torso propped up by one elbow and a leg pulled up to point his knee at the ceiling. BB-8 rolls to just in front of them and finally answers their previous question; he mentions the First Order, Poe, and the fact he has a message to get back to the Resistance.

Ben’s eyebrows furrow, “okay, the friend, cool, we can help you find him, but _what_ is the First Order and the Resistance?”

He recoils, rolling back just a touch and pulling his domed head to convey his best attempt at shock; no one in the known regions _didn’t_ know about the war and the sides of it. Frankly, BB-8 doesn’t think kids as clean as these two could ever be born and raised on Jakku, but then that lends the question of just where they came from and how they got here in the first place. He takes a pause, watching them exchange looks and gesture lowly at each other like they know what they’re saying to each other just by looking at each other alone.

BB-8 whirls out a couple answers, saying the First Order want to control the whole galaxy with fear and violence while the Resistance is the group that wants to stop them; he tries not to tangent about Poe too much when he fully gets to explain what it is his best friend does, but he thinks he whistles on a little longer than he plans.

“We should get you back to the Resistance then,” Rey hums, reaching forward slowly to fiddle with his antenna, ignoring his little trill of surprise to fix it up in a way that had him surprised, “there, all better,” she yawns then, seeming surprised by the action and even more surprised when Ben does the same thing.

They should get some sleep. He says as much and the pair share a glance and move to lie down where they sit, Rey turning on her side to face Ben and stretching out her cloak behind her for her Loth-cat (he’s still very unsure of what it actually is) to curl up on away from the metal. He notices that even though Rey and Ben aren’t close enough to tough, their hands stretch out and hold each other, they seem to fall asleep almost instantly, their breathing evening out and tense muscles relaxing.

BB-8 has a moment to think by himself, thinking of what exactly he might have to do if Poe really is dead and isn’t coming back to get him. He doesn’t want to imagine such an important man - to him and the Resistance (but mostly him if he manages to conjure some semblance of selfishness) - lying dead in a First Order ship, but he’s a droid and he has to think reasonably, like he’s supposed to. He isn’t sure ho far he’ll get with a couple strange teenagers, they might be from the Unknown Regions which means they might have older people or parents who can help... but he isn’t sure about the likely chances he’ll make it home.

* * *

Ben wakes up slightly dazed, he feels like he saw things while he slept but now, in the light of a clearer afternoon, he can’t seem to drag up those images and sounds no matter how hard he focuses.

He lets out a little grunt and pushes himself to sit, one hand coming up to rub his face and the other still clasped in the somehow-tight grip Rey has on it in her sleep. He gives her hand a little squeeze, not hard enough to disturb her but enough that he sees the corner of her mouth twitch upwards.

Axel yawns in his ear, still snuggled in the safety of his shirt collar, and his free hand moves up to flick them gently, mumbling a quite warning about being so _loud_.

“I’m not doing anything,” they protest, whacking their wings against the side of his head and fluttering out in front of him to stick his tongue out childishly.

Ben rolls his eyes, “you always say that,” he whispers.

They fold their arms, jutting their chin out, “Fae can’t lie, Benny, you know that.”

“No, but,” he holds his hand out, letting them land there, “you _can_ be awfully annoying.”

They pout a little, muttering something that Ben only catches the tail end of, “... sixteen years.” He figured Axel and Florence probably know _something_ about his and Rey’s lives that they’re supposed to uncover, but if the King wants them to discover things for themselves then they have to. Don’t they?

BB-8 comes wheeling in from outside and Axel goes ducking back into Ben’s collar, a bit of sand is caught over BB-8’s sensor that he whistles about grumpily until Ben shushes him and brushes the sand off to point at Rey and their clasped hands; he lets out a little, apologetic chime and lowers his general volume.

He and the droid sit opposite each other for a little while, BB-8 going on about how the sand storm has pretty much stopped but that they need to find a ‘scavenger outpost’ before nightfall since evening scavengers might find their way into the ship and BB-8 doesn’t want to run the risk of someone finding them in such a complicated place, especially if there’s already a bounty out for his parts. Ben has no idea where the nearest outpost is, nor does BB-8, and even when he tilts his head to nudge Axel slightly all he gets in return is a shrug so, amazing, they’re lost.

Rey gasps suddenly, bolting up into a sitting position; Ben reaches around her as her cloak pulls, grabbing Florence around their main body so they don’t get burnt on the metal all around them. He tucks the Loth-cat against his chest and falls back into a sitting position in front of Rey, tugging at the hand she still holds in a vice-like grip.

“Hey, Rey,” he tries, voice soft as BB-8 trills worried questions from behind him. He shifts Florence safely onto one of his legs, ignoring the biting claws as he carefully brings his hand up to her cheek, watching her eyes come back into focus and her hand release his, though he holds on, “you okay?”

She takes a second to blink, looking down where he trails his thumb over her knuckles and leaning into the hand on her cheek. She nods, “yeah- just, weird stuff.”

“I get it,” he nods, “what’d you see?”

She lets go of him and he immediately misses the contact, BB-8 comes to their side and she runs her hand across his top dome as he beeps a whistles some more worried questions. She smiles just slightly, not as soft or as genuine as when she was sleeping earlier, there’s something behind her eyes he feels like he should be able to reach with their Force bond but can’t; he understands the feeling coming out of a memory, but he doesn’t know what she saw and he has a feeling she won’t talk about it for a bit.

“Niima Outpost,” she says after a second, brushing out her cloak and picking up Florence again, “it’s south of here but if we leave now we should get there just before sundown; that’s where we need to go.”

Ben nods and gets to his feet, pulling her up to her feet again and keeping a hand on her arm as she gets balanced, “you know how to get there?”

“I should do.”

BB-8 goes rolling out first, squealing out about how they need to _get a move on then_ and pulling genuine laughs out of both him and Rey as they go following after him and escaping the dangerously metal surroundings of the ship.

Rey seems to know a lot about this place, so Ben doesn’t know what she thinks of all the sand, but there’s some part of him, some deep ingrained part he can’t identify that makes him just utterly hate it all. It keeps getting under his trousers, and in the sleeves of his shirt, and in his hair, and he’s so glad he isn’t wearing shoes because he’s sure that would make him inconsolable about all the damn _sand_.

They trek up and out of the dune the dead shipyard has buried itself in, he and Rey boosting BB-8 up with their combined strength and Rey pulling him up when he inevitably couldn’t stop tripping over the shifting layers. They leave barely-visible tracks as they walk, BB-8 rolling slightly behind them to cover their footprints with his general... path.

The sun is still hot on his neck and he faintly wonders if it’ll burn badly, Rey looks too focused on the path in front of them to hold a conversation if he wanted to start one so he keeps quiet and just makes sure he keeps following her; he hopes she doesn’t get another less-than-pleasant memory attack as they go.

The walking gets taxing, and at some point BB-8 starts whistling an old tune Ben can’t remember ever hearing before, the droid starts weaving a path, swerving around Ben’s legs and twirling as best he can in the sand and still making the one-tone song until Rey stops in her endless trek to stop and smile. BB-8 makes wide arcs and circles like he’s trying to dance alone; Ben’s eyes flash to Rey and he finds a smile work it’s way onto his face, she loves dancing, he knows that.

It only takes her a moment before she’s ditching the cloak and throwing her belt and the attached weapon his way, he manages to catch both and the frazzled Loth-cat within the fabric. She jumps into the little ring BB-8 has made, prancing backwards and spinning in the way she did back in the Fae Realm.

“She has no respect for me, I swear,” Florence grumbles and Ben has to laugh.

Rey and the droid circle them brightly, weaving between each other and if Ben’s hands weren’t full he’s sure she would be pulling him in to join as well. The sand kicks up like tough glitter, less iridescent but somehow just as magical when it surrounds and scatters around her; BB-8 somehow manages to be quite fluid for a droid, but there’s strange sense of understanding coming from him, like he’s dealt with teenagers in less-than-ideal situations before, and maybe he has - this Poe guy sounds important.

Something around him buzzes, it’s the familiar feeling of the Force bouncing off of someone else, but it’s not Rey; there’s a sharp stab of panic and Rey stops where she is so he knows she feels it too. The feeling is strong, but Ben gets the feeling whoever it is projecting it doesn’t know they’re doing it, probably doesn’t know they have potential with the Force at all; he gets the odd sensation that he’s felt this kind of inexperience before, long before he met and perfected a connection with Rey, from different people, but in the face of this new source those memories seem to be failing him at the moment.

“Ben!”

He spins to face where she suddenly points, looking just behind them as a burst of fire and sand explodes at the top of a dune on the left of their initial path. BB-8 let’s out a wild series of noises and they see a body pull themselves from the hole, holding onto a jacket the droid somehow identifies as his friend’s; Rey grabs her stuff from him, Florence dropping into the sand next to BB-8 and the two take off while she gets her belt and cloak back on.

“You catch up with him, I’ll check the rest,” he says as they sprint. She nods and diverts as BB-8 and Florence take off after the running body too.

The ship - a TIE Fighter a part of him echoes - sinks just a tad and Ben tries to hold off on freaking out as he kneels in the sand and exhales a quick breath. He shakes his hands out and Axel whispers quick tips as if he’d forgotten them in the sudden chaos; he scans the top of the ship and eyes a crack, hands reaching out and pulling the two sides apart, ripping the metal at every point he can without straining himself and reaching in to grab the burning shirt of the body left behind.

He pulls the body out, a man with scraggly hair, bruises, and burns dressed pretty similarly to the way Ben is. While he catches his breath, not having strained himself in any way like that before, Axel checks the man, fluttering between his chest and his mouth and nose.

“He’s breathing.” There’s a pause, “looks like Rey and Florence pounced the other guy, BB-8’s got a spark held at his head.”

He gulps in a breath and brushes back his hair, “can you hear what they’re saying?”

The pixie tilts their head a little, looking strained for a moment before shaking his head and coming back to settle in Ben’s collar. He lets Rey and BB-8 deal with the first stranger, turning back to the second and shaking him to try and wake him up, he doesn’t react and Ben’s suddenly paranoid he won’t wake up.

“Maybe you should hit him,” Axel whispers, deadpan.

“What?!” He hisses in return, trying to keep his volume low so BB-8 and the other stranger don’t think he’s insane, “ _why_ would I hit him?!”

“ _Because_? We need to wake him up and clearly just shaking him isn’t doing anything.”

Ben purses his lips, humming uncertainly, “if he attacks me I’m killing you.”

He gives the man one final, rough shake but he still doesn’t move; he hums again, really not on board with doing this but really he has to. He flexes his fingers and reels back, holding the man’s collar as he delivers one quick, harsh slap across his face. He scrambles back as the man jolts awake, rolling onto his knees almost immediately and making solid eye contact with Ben.

“Who the hell are you?” The man’s voice is hoarse but there’s a clear tone of confusion there, no anger or fear.

Ben swallows, practically inhaling a small bout of confidence, “I just saved your life, I think I get to ask that first.”

There’s a spark in the man’s eyes and his lip perks up a little at the corner, he sits up properly, groaning and holding his shoulder for a second before holding the opposite hand out, “Poe Dameron, Resistance pilot.”

A gasp leaves Ben before he can stop it, “BB-8’s Poe?”

“You know my droid?”

“No seriously!” A voice exclaims, Ben and Poe turn to see the other man (currently pinned down by Rey and still getting growled at by Florence) yelling out and pointing in their direction, “look! He’s fine!”

A breath seems to escape Poe and before Ben even knows it BB-8’s speeding across the sand and swerving around him to collide with Poe’s legs; there’s a series of noises and if BB-8 could cry, Ben’s sure he would be, it’s already like his beeps and whistles are more blubbering than they usually are. Poe hugs the small droid, and whether it’s the heat from the still sinking crash or if the two are closer than Ben initially thought, but Poe looks like he’s crying just a bit too.

Rey comes over in the lull of action, hand gripping the stranger’s arm tightly and Florence marching just in front of both of them. The stranger looks particularly shaken up, the jacket he’d initially been holding now on his person properly, his skin is dark and glistening with sweat and blood in various places, he looks relieved, staring at Poe, but has a similar flash of confusion passes over him when he looks at Ben and then Rey again as Poe had.

“Finn, buddy.” Poe stands up and Rey squints between the two men before letting ‘Finn’ go and coming over to crouch in the sand beside him, leaving the two men and BB-8 to have some quiet discussion on the opposite side of the sink hole.

Rey lays a hand on his shoulder and offers a small smile, “you okay? That felt like it took a lot of energy.”

“Yeah,” he nods, though still accepts her help to stand when she offers it and doesn’t argue when she keeps his arm thrown over her shoulders, “I think I’m just out of practice.”

She nudges him a little, “you should read less.”

He nudges back, “then who would be the brains in this partnership?”

Axel snickers and Rey sticks her tongue out, Florence curling their tail around their ankles as Finn and Poe come back over, BB-8 circling them enthusiastically.

“So,” Finn starts, holding his hands out placatingly when Rey makes a face, “I think we got off on the wrong foot. I’m Finn and I guess in some way you know Poe.”

Ben shifts a little, their curious gazes fixed on them. He thinks from their point of view they might all look a little similar, two people and a not-humanoid companion, Florence and BB-8 already seem friendly with one another and Ben’s thankful Axel isn’t the social nor the jealous type. Usually.

“Ben,” he says after a moment of silence, “and this is my friend Rey. We were heading for the Niima Outpost cause BB-8 said he had a message?”

Poe looks down at the droid, raising an eyebrow, “you told them?” And the defensive chirps in return manage to get a little giggle out of Rey again. “Well, I gotta thank you for taking care of my droid and for saving my life. We’ll come with you to the outpost and then maybe you can explain what you’re doing out here?”

That would be a hard one, but, maybe honesty will end up being the best policy, when they’re in a less open, risky space at least. Who knows, maybe Poe Dameron and Finn no-last-name-given will lead them to the memories they’re looking for.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fuck canon BB-8 has been best friends with Poe Dameron since that man was a kid. Send tweet.

**Author's Note:**

> Yep... this is a canonverse Fae AU  
> B, this one’s for you 💛


End file.
